Counting On It
by Carnivalgirl
Summary: Fluff. Remus and Tonks are having a baby, and despite Remus's slight nerves they've agreed to be happy about it. But will the rest of the Order share their joy, or will the war cast yet another shadow on the future? RLNT, one-shot. Set during DH.


**A/N:** Part of this is lifted from Living for Others, my other one-chapter fic where Tonks reveals the same news to her parents. Hope you enjoy this! Reviewers get a hug from the Order member of their choice.

**Counting On It**

Remus Lupin had faced a number of terrifying things in his life. He had transformed into a werewolf over three hundred and sixty times. He had fought Death Eaters, Mrs Black and other horrifying creatures. He'd even managed to get all the way through his wedding without fainting. But now, as he and his beautiful new wife Dora were about to announce to all their friends that they were expecting their first child, he was petrified.

It had taken him a long time to feel completely happy about his and Dora's baby; even though part of him had always longed to have a child this baby's timing was verging on catastrophic. He was also struggling not to be deeply paranoid about the baby's health. It wasn't just medical reasons that made him think like this, it was the series of tragedies and disappointments his own life had turned out to be. After all this time the miracle of having a healthy child with his wife was sometimes too much for him to believe in.

Yet as far as his wife was concerned their fortunes were officially on the up and it had been hard not to be infected by her happiness, especially since the baby had, for six weeks, been their literal little secret. She'd managed to find an old book on the subject that had belonged to her mother, and she read it with rapture every morning and night, often sharing the most exciting things with him;

_"Remus, how sensitive is your hearing?"_

_"Up to 45 mega-hertz," he said. "And it does." _

_"Does what?"_

_"Mega hurt." he said, with a grin._

_"...OK, I don't understand your jokes, dear. What I want to ask is, do you think you could hear our baby's heartbeat? Because we can't go to St. Mungo's..."_

_He was tempted to press his ear to her belly and lie that he could just because he knew it would make her incredibly happy, but he ended up admitting that they had to wait a bit longer._

Thinking of that moment made him feel a sudden rush of love for the baby, which was convenient seeing as he'd soon be facing a torrent of guilt. All the worry he'd been feeling for the past forty-eight hours was now making him feel almost physically sick (though Dora would have said it was sympathy pain) and he felt extremely worried about what everyone would say. The Order was still reeling from the losses of Dumbledore and Mad-Eye Moody; it was an additional blow to their efforts to take Tonks away from the action. How would they explain their foolish mistake without the epic embarrassment of using the word 'contraception' in front of Elphias Doge and Minerva McGonagall? How would they be able to prove they hadn't done it to get out of the war like cowards? And were they stealing Bill and Fleur's thunder again?

As they finished the last item he only thing he knew was the same feeling he had before his Potions O.W.L. Certain doom.

"So, any other business?"

"Yes!" Dedalus Diggle piped up.

It took a lot of willpower from Remus not to say "Thank you!" out loud, though Tonks, of course, noticed his moment of relief and reached over and grabbed his hand.

"It. Will. Be. Fine," she whispered. "Remember how well it went with Mum and Dad?"

She was right; they had both been very worried about how to break the news to Ted and Andromeda. Their relationship with Remus was tense at best; he had managed so far to avoid having his arms broken by Ted and had been very eager not to chance it again. So it had come as a big surprise to them when, over a cosy chat and cup of tea, Andromeda had suddenly asked;

_"Nymphadora, are you going to have a baby?"_

It had turned out that Tonks hadn't hidden her morning sickness as well as she'd hoped, and that Remus lifting their things upstairs for her hadn't been a convincing display of chivalry. When the answer was 'yes', Andromeda, even more surprisingly, had been delighted, and so had Ted when he heard. Then again, werewolf father or not this was their grandchild. At the end of the war they'd have a little boy or girl to spoil. What was not to love? The Order on the other hand...what reason did they have to be pleased?

Remus didn't pay any attention to what Dedalus Diggle actually said, but joined in the nice noises at the end of it anyway. "Mm-hmm, yes, that's great."

There was a brief moment where no one spoke, and the only sound was Hagrid finishing off the rest of the cheese straws.

"Anything else, before we all go home?" Kingsley asked.

Remus closed his eyes in fear. _Maybe we shouldn't tell them. Maybe we should wait 'til it's obvious. Yes, that'll work..._

"Yeah, we have news. We're having a baby," Tonks said cheerfully.

Remus shot her a look which he hoped said "DORA! Did you have to put it so bluntly! Have you no discretion at all?" quite clearly, but she didn't look at him.

He lowered his eyes and stared at his knees for a moment. The silence seemed to go on forever. He waited for the inevitable shout of "You _idiots_!", but instead he heard a whisper;

"Hey Lugless, I think you owe me five Sickles."

"_Oh_, Merlin's balls. I was so sure it was going to be Fleur."

"You've been gambling about us?" Tonks said incredulously. "Bill, Fleur, did you know about this?"

"Yes, we did," Bill chuckled. "We gave Fred an anonymous tip-off."

"What? You mean, you _knew_?" It was Remus's turn to be flabbergasted.

"We guessed when you visited our 'ouse last week," Fleur said. "Remus, I sink you...reacted a bit too much when Tonks was on ze stairs."

Remus remembered the half-second of dread panic he'd had when Tonks had nearly slipped. He'd thought there was something funny about the way Bill and Fleur had grinned after he nearly threw himself down the steps to catch her.

"When is it due?" Kingsley asked warmly.

"Well, I'm two months along, so, early April," Tonks replied.

"EARLY APRIL!" The twins exclaimed simultaneously.

"That's it, Tonks, your baby's going to be born on our birthday," Fred said. "And I don't want to hear any _rubbish_ about not being able to schedule babies_, _you're a Metamorphmagus, you're different."

With that, Molly couldn't contain herself any longer. "Oh, CONGRATULATIONS!" she squealed. She rushed over to Tonks, who stood up and shared a hug with her. "Oh, I can't believe it! First the wedding and now this! I'm so happy for you both!" She gave Tonks a kiss on the cheek, then moved on to hug Remus equally tightly, as if it was her grandchild they were expecting.

Remus looked over nervously at Arthur, who smiled.

"Welcome to the club," he said, though his voice couldn't be heard over his wife's excited babbling.

"If you have a little girl she'll have to have Ginny's old dresses, some of them are so beautiful, it broke my heart when she grew out of them..."

It was a relief to know that at least two of their friends were happy for them, but this was shortly interrupted by Sturgis Podmore, who said;

"How is Tonks supposed to work now?"

Dora answered him calmly. "I'll use a Concealing Charm on my clothes in public until I'm six months gone, at which point I'll stick to the desk work until I'm about eight months."

"You can't go out on a mission, Tonks, even with a Concealing Charm!" Hestia told her, though very sweetly so. "Imagine what even a simple Stunning Spell could do to your baby!"

"Yes, you can never be too careful at this stage," Molly said.

"They're right," Remus agreed, at the risk of having an argument with her later. "You should probably stick to deskwork from now on." She did look a little disappointed, but at the same time, she had known what they'd all say.

"Well, Tonksy, seems you have a much better chance of survival all of a sudden," Mundungus was said. It was hard to tell whether he was pleased about this or not.

"Does she, though?" Aberforth said cryptically. "I mean, look what happened to the last couples who were daft enough to have babies in the middle of the war. Lily and James Potter...Frank and Alice Longbottom..."

He didn't need to expand further; everyone, even those who were new to the Order, felt grief and fear at remembering those tragedies. There were various quiet agreements around the room. The entire happy atmosphere dissipated in an instant and the announcement suddenly seemed one of doom rather than joy.

"I'll admit, it does remind me of Lily and James a bit, does it you?" Hagrid whispered to Elphias Doge, though his whispers were a normal person's speaking voice.

Remus had expected this. They'd all felt the same unease when Lily and James announced they were having Harry (though he, Sirius and Peter had never shown it). But he was hurt to see the sudden crestfallen look on Tonks's face. She didn't want their baby to have a difficult life, nor did she want herself and Remus to be targeted any more than they were already.

"Well, how about Molly and Arthur Weasley?" Molly said. "I know I wasn't in the Order but don't tell me the war didn't concern me. I lost my two brothers, and I mourn them to this day, as Frederick Gideon and George Fabian over there will prove. There are plenty of people who'll tell me that I shouldn't have had my youngest children, not only because of the war but because of our money situation, which I think Remus and Tonks will empathise with. But Ron and Ginny are both a mother's dream, and that's because Arthur and I both survived to raise them. While I was anxious at the time of course, know now I wouldn't change a thing. Regardless of whether this child was conceived on purpose or by accident..."

Everyone looked at Remus and Tonks at this point. Fortunately, their fierce blushes seemed to say enough.

"...they have no reason to be ashamed or afraid. In fact I hope they're both thrilled, because they'll be wonderful parents." Molly concluded.

"We are thrilled," Remus admitted bravely. Tonks had to restrain herself from kissing him. "Molly is right that our circumstances are far from perfect, but like those parents before us we will love our son or daughter more than ourselves, and we'll make all the efforts we can to give them the happiness they deserve."

He dared to look around, and saw many faces lit up with happiness for him and Dora. He even dared to imagine they'd get more hugs once the meeting was over.

Kingsley stood up. "Well then, as the acting chair of this meeting I'd like to formally congratulate you both, and hope everything goes well until April."

"Hear hear," Minerva said, surprising everyone.

"The nature of our organisation means that we often look back on the past and mourn those we've lost," he continued. "Most recently, Albus Dumbledore and Alastor Moody, both of whom, I hope, would be happy for these two prodigious warriors. But...I don't want to sound cliché here but it needs saying...sometimes we have to look to the future. We're not just doing this to honour the dead, we're doing this to protect future generations. And here they are, represented in front of us. Mark my words Tonks, you may not be fighting as much as you used to, but you've still got a very important task ahead of you."

She nodded. Remus noticed that her eyes were shining, and her hands were once again resting on her belly.

"So, next time we go out into battle, not only will we bow our heads in remembrance of those lost," Kingsley declared - he was clearly enjoying this, "but lift our heads up in determination, for the sake..." he paused "...of _Nymphadora Junior_."

Tonks gaped at him for a moment, but then burst out into laughter, and everyone in the room seemed happier than they had been for a long time. Remus took a deep and calming breath and wondered why he'd doubted his friends. He also felt better about becoming a father than he had before, and thought of a day when he could sit his son or daughter on his knee and tell them;

_"I was proud of you before you were even born."_


End file.
